So Seattle has a place to mitigate your speeding tickets on the web, and the system served me well, this is what I wrote, note the incorrect use of the word “instant” instead of “instance”… whoops, however this didn’t go on my record as long as I stay incident free.

I feel the largest mitigating circumstance in this instant is there were no speed signs posted in the area, and if there were any they were covered by trees and brush. I can attest to this because I was looking for them. I wasn’t sure the speedlimit, but I felt I was keeping pace with the vehicles around me. The officer caught me as I was cresting a hill and going down. It was clear this was an area of opportunity for the police department. In conjunction with me never having driven this road, and my ignorance of the limit, resulted in this ticket. I truly apologize for speeding, it was never my intention to break the law; as a veteran and engaged citizen I feel it is my responsibility to be accountable for my infraction, but I want to make it clear this is an isolated incident and hope my resultant fines and driving points reduction reflect that.